At the Security TRENDs 2017 summit, Trend Micro reiterated the threat ofransomware and how it is adapting to infect today’s highly-connected digital environment.

“To be one step ahead, organizations need to anticipate the shifts in IT infrastructure, embrace changes in user behavior and adapt protection for new and constantly-emerging threats. Whether organizations are deploying workloads in the physical, virtual, cloud or hybrid environments, investments for security capabilities need to be comprehensive. They should also look at more holistic approaches, rather than rely on narrower security protection methods,” said Dhanya Thakkar, Vice President, APAC & MMEA, Trend Micro Inc.

Ransomware still holds access to your machine’s files hostage until users pay a certain amount to obtain a ‘decrypt key’. However, in 2016, Trend Micro warned that the implementations of delivering the malware have increased over the years.

With the implementation of interconnected devices under the Internet of Things (IoT), the likelihood of infection has increased by way of more access points and ever-increasing data volumes. There are myriad ways of infection, which include drive-by downloads, email spams, and web advertisements.

“The number of new families is forecasted to grow 25 percent in 2017, and organizations need to look at mitigation at every point,” said Law Chee Wan, Head-Solution Architect, Trend Micro Malaysia.

Organizations should protect their data with multiple layers of protection that can adapt to different threats. Trend Micro’s XGen security provides a cross-generational threat defense that continuously optimizes your security system to fight off known and unknown malware threats.